WEST CHESTER – For the entire first half and most of the second, a razor thin margin was all that separated basketball rivals West Chester and Cheyney during Wednesday’s cross-county collision. But a brief stretch at the start of the final half wound up providing all of the separation the Golden Rams needed to walk away from Hollinger Field House with a critical 79-71 victory.

Following an extremely close opening 20 minutes, the visiting Wolves began to sputter so much that head coach Dominique Stephens called a timeout just 120 seconds into the final period. And the ploy didn’t work because just four minutes later, the Rams had built a double-digit lead that CU was never able to overcome.

“For the most part, our guys have played hard but we’ve had bouts of not playing smart,” said WCU head coach Damien Blair. “At the start of the second half we did both.

“And overall in the second half we did a better job knowing who (Cheyney) had on the floor and we did a better job of containing their penetration.”

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West Chester has now won eight of nine to improve to 11-3 in the conference (13-5 overall) and stay within striking distance of first place East Stroudsburg in the PSAC East. The Warriors visit Hollinger on Saturday.

The loss halted a three-game winning streak for Cheyney (6-8, 8-10 overall). The Rams have now won three straight in the series, which will be contested once more in the regular season finale on Feb. 27 at Cope Hall.

“When (Cheyney) has all of their players, they are a good team,” Blair said. “For us to get a win over a good team is important. And now that we have it, we can concentrate on East Stroudsburg.”

Playing without last season’s co-MVP Carl Johnson, who aggravated a hamstring injury last weekend, WCU got at least 10 points from five players and dominated the boackboards (52-33 rebounding edge). Troy Hockaday poured in 20 points to lead the way and Corey Blake added 16 points and 13 rebounds.

“It was important for us not to look ahead,” Blake said. “When you do that you tend to get lazy. It was a good, important win and now we can focus on East Stroudsburg.

“We know we have to grind out every game – that’s our identity. We’re a get-down and get-dirty team.”

Without question, the clash turned in the opening minutes of the second half when Cheyney was caught napping and the Rams to scored 14 of the first 18 points, to open a 48-38 lead at the six minute mark. And to complicate matters, the Wolves’ foul touble began to mount for starters Brandon Norfleet, Deshawn Curtis and Calvin Brown.

“It was not a good start to the second half, but it’s hard to beat any team that has so many second chances,” Stephens lamented. “We gave up 18 offensive rebounds and (WCU) had 21 more free throws. That’s a total of 40 potentially free baskets right there.”

As expected, Cheyney made a couple late runs – including an 11-3 surge down the stretch – to pull within five, 69-65 with 1:56 remaining, but could not get any closer. Hockaday and freshman Matt Wisely each knocked down a pair of free throws and Blake converted a fast-break put-back to reestablish a double-digit lead in the ensuing 44 seconds.

“The start of the second half was a big part of the game,” Blake said. “We always try to come out after halftime with more energy and try to win the first media timeout.”

There were nine ties and 14 lead changes in the first half alone, with neither team able to build a lead of more than three. Junior forward Rashaad Slappy paced CU with 19 points and Norfleet added 15.

NOTES: Cheyney senior Jason Sabb did not start and failed to score in first half. But he finished with 17 points, including 10 points in the final 3:07. The reigning PSAC scoring champ, Sabb has missed five games this season – including two last week – for disciplinary issues. “If I can get a consistent starting five, we can start to develop an identity,” Stephens said. “We are starting to get it now.” … with WCU junior forward Tom Sharkey out (fractured arm), freshman Matt Wisely picked up the slack by logging a season-high 13 minutes and scoring a career-best 10 points. In the previous 17 games, he saw action in just 11 and scored a total of six points. “We told Matt he had to step up and give us some solid minutes and he did an excellent job,” Blair said.